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Calendar No. 945. 

2d Congress, ) SENATE. ( Report 

3d Session. f 1 No. 1072, 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 
DEPARTMENTS. 



December 14, 1912. — Ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Smith of Georgia, from the Committee on Agriculture and For- 
estry, submitted the following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany H. R. 22871.] 

The Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, to whom was referred 
the bill (H. R. 22871) to establish agricultural extension departments 
in connection with agricultural colleges in the several States receiving 
the benefits of an act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and of acte 
supplementary thereto, having considered the same, beg to report it 
back to the Senate with one amendment and with the recommendation 
that the bill as amended do pass. 

The object of the bill is to make provision for the establishment of 
extension departments in the land-grant agricultural colleges of each 
State and to carry to the farmers at their homes the knowledge gath- 
ered at the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 

Fifty years ago the Morrill Act became a law, and by aid from th« 
appropriation which it made colleges of agriculture are now success- 
fully conducted in every State. 

Twenty-five years ago the Hatch bill became a law, and by aid 
from the appropriations which it made agricultural experiment sta- 
tions are now successfully conducted in everj^ State. Other legisla- 
tion has also been enacted since the Morrill and Hatch Acts of further 
aid to the colleges and experiment stations. 

The Morrill Act provides for the endowment and support of col- 
leges,^ the leading object of which shall be "to teach such branches of 
learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The 
Hatch Act provides for agricultural experiment stations where by 
investigation and experiment accurate knowledge4l obtained upon 
farm problems. J^ 

The experiment stations were essential to proper instructions in 
the colleges. In most of the States these colleges and experiment 
stations have for years worked in close association. They have con- 
ducted investigations and made tests bearing upon many important 



2 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 

questions connected with the farm, and their investigations and tests 
have been especially with reference to conditions in their respective 
Sta.tes. They have studied plants and determined with accuracy 
the foods upon which they live and mature crops. They have ana- 
lyzed different classes of soil in their respective States to determine 
the plant food contained and have learned how to make it available. 
They have ascertained defects of soils and how to remove them. 
They have w^orked out the improvement of seeds and have found 
the way to resist many plant diseases. They have tested stock, 
cattle, and hog foods and diseases. They have found what foods 
will bring the best results and have advanced in the treatment of 
diseases. 

I do not claim that the knowledge which has been obtained is 
absolutely accurate in all lines, but I insist that they have learned 
many things of great value to those engaged upon farms; and their 
officers are, as a rule, able and capable men, practical as well as 
scientific, and devoted to their work. 

These institutions are now engaged in their best work and will 
continue to demonstrate new truths which would be most helpful if 
understood and used in the dailj work of the farm. 

There are students at these colleges who are obtaining much aid 
from the instructions which they receive, but there is no sufficient 
provision to carry to the farmers at their homes the valuable infor- 
mation which has been and will be obtained by the work of the col- 
leges and experiment stations. 

The last census shows that the rural population of the 48 States 
was 49,384,882. The majority of our population is engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. It is my urgent plea that they should receive 
as speedily as possible the help which the successful use of all thai 
has been learned and may yet be learned at the agricultural col- 
leges and experiment stations would be to them. 

The National Government has spent on the agricultural college; 
and experiment stations in round figures $70,000,000. It spends 
now $3,940,000 cash annually upon them. From State appropri- 
ations and other sources they receive annually $11,000,000. A 
large part, however, of this last-named amount is required for new 
buildings and equipment required to meet the growing demands 
upon the colleges. 

For the year ended June 30, 1912, Congress appropriated 
$15,000,000 for carrying on the exclusively agricultural work of the 
Department of Agriculture. Much the larger portion of this monej 
is spent for investigation and experimentation. Information ol 
great value to the rural interests of the country is secured, but t 
comparatively small amount is devoted to showing those at worl? 
upon farms how to apply this information. 

Dr. True, Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, has stated 

Heretofore interest in the agricultural development has largely been in the direc 
tion of securing new truths. A vast amount of valuable information is now in exisi 
ence awaiting some effective means of getting it into operation by the farming peopl 
of the United States. It has been found that the mere publication of results m th 
bulletins and pamphlets is not sufficient, and that there is much even that thes 
publications do not contain and can not be taught by them. 

The agricultural colleges were created and organized chiefly for the benefit of agr' - 
culture. They have devoted themselves to perfecting their organization and course - 
of study for the education of their students and by means of experiment stations 1 

''n ***> *^''' 



Ll_ establishment of agricultural extension departments. 3 

CO 

. . the investigation and discovery of agricultural truths. Recently there have arisen 

C/3 demands upon these institutions for information and assistance outside of their class- 

•^ rooms by persons engaged in agriculture unable to attend these colleges as students. 

" These demands became so insistent that at the meeting of the Association of Agri- 

'-— cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations held at Portland, Oreg., in 1909, the associa- 

I • tion by formal action changed its constitution by recognizing the obligation of the 

' ^ colleges to the rural peoi^le outside of their halls as equal to the obligation of resident 

^ students and their work of research. Forty-five colleges, representing 43 States, were 

P^ conducting extension work during the college year which closed June 30, 1911, but 

^ their work was limited by lack of sufficient funds. 

We are confronted, therefore, with the fact that the National Gov- 
ernment has spent, and is spending, hxrge sums of money upon the 
agricultural colleges and the experiment stations. The money so 
spent has arousecl interest in the States and they are appropriating 
to this work sums in excess of those appropriated by the National 
Government, but the inspiration for tlie work and the leadership 
in the work came from the national appropriation. These institu- 
tions are doing good, but much that they might do fails of accom- 
plishment because there is no organized machinery backed by neces- 
sary funds to carry the information they gather to those actually 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. 

The agricultural colleges, agencies in a sense of the National 
Government, are ready for immediate service at the home of the 
farmer. They are ready to furnish the information they have 
acquired to all upon the farms instead of to a few at the colleges. 
The bill which has passed the House is intended to enable them to 
increase their extension work at once and develop it in time upon a 
broad scale. 

It is of vital importance to carry promptly to the farmers the 
knowledge acc(uired at these institutions. 

A number of bills have been introduced dining the past few years 
intended to accomplish this result. Last fall the executive com- 
mittee of the State Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, 
officers of the National Soil Fertility League, and representatives 
of the Agricultural Department prepared a bill which was intro- 
duced in the Senate on the 16th day of January and in the House of 
Representatives on the 17th day of the same month. The House of 
Representatives has passed this bill with only two important amend- 
ments. One requires that 75 per cent of the money appropriated 
shall be used in actual demonstration work, and the other provides 
that this bill shall not interfere with the demonstration work now 
being done by the Agricultural Department. 

Many State legislatures will meet in January, and the passage of 
the House bill by the Senate at the earliest day possible is necessary 
to give them an opportunity to act. 

The bill provides for the establishment and maintenance in each 
of the land-grant colleges of agriculture of an extension department 
to give instruction in agriculture and home economics to farmers at 
their homes. 

This instruction is to be given by demonstration work and other 
means in the local farm communities. 

It provides for a fixed appropriation from the Treasury of $10,000 
unconditionally to each State. It provides also an appropriation 
beginnmg with $300,000 a year, July 1, 1913, to be prorated among 
the States on a basis of rural population. This appropriation is to 
be mcreased each year $300,000 until the maximum of $3,000,000 is 



4 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUKAL EXTENSION DEPAKTMENTS. 

reached in 1923. No State is to receive a pro rata of this sum unless 
it provides an equal amount for the same purpose. The money is to 
be expended by the State colleges of agriculture through their exten- 
sion departments in each State. Seventy-five per cent of the money 
must be used in actual field demonstration; 5 per cent may be used 
for prmting and publications, and the remainmg 20 per cent for 
instructions in household economics, or for further field demonstra- 
tions. The bill provides that any Federal money lost or misused 
must be made good by the State, and it prohibits the use of the money 
for purposes except those specified. It provides for reports from the 
colleges to the Secretary of Agriculture, and through the Secretary 
of Agriculture to Congress. 

The bill permits the purchase of no land by the Government. The 
representatives of the colleges in the various communities in each 
county in each State will enlist farmers, who, under the direction of 
the representative of the agricultural college, will test the value on 
their own land of the information brought by the representative of 
the agricultural college. The farmer will be invited to plant under 
the direction of the representative of the college. The character of 
the soil will be tested, the nature of the fertilizer to be used explained," 
the selection of seed advised and the time of planting and manner of 
cultivation suggested, and demonstrations will be made which wUl 
teach and prove the value of the knowledge acquired at the colleges 
and stations. In another place the representative of the college will 
teach, and by experimentation demonstrate, the best manner for 
caring for fruit trees. In another, the best system for feeding cattle 
and stock and of dairying and butter making may be the subject of 
the demonstration. 

Demonstrations will also be made in home economics and labor- 
saving machines. 

The colleges of agriculture and the experiment stations in each 
State have devoted themselves to the study of the pecuHar conditions 
of their State and the locahties of their State and will, through their 
representatives, carry to the farmer in his home the accurate informa- 
tion which experimentation has demonstrated and in turn give a 
practical demonstration in the locality before the farmer and his 
neighbors of the value of the information acquired and how to use it. 
This class of work will be supplemented by printed discussions of the 
best mode of farming, of hygiene, and of household economics, and 
the means available will be used to give those on the farm all that 
research can develop which will be of service to them. 

The value of such instruction is not a matter of experiment. It 
has been tried in other countries, as well as to a limited extent in our 
own. A number of European countries for the past 25 years have 
been carrying the information gathered in their colleges and experi- 
ment stations to the homes of the farmers. Detailed information as 
to how the extension departments in other countries have been con- 
ducted and the beneficial results from them has been gathered by the 
National Director of the Office of Experiment Stations. 

We have selected Belgium as an example and have examiried the 
statistics prepared by the Department of Agriculture showing the 
effect there of agricultural extension work upon the lines proposed 
for our country by the bill under consideration. They disclose an 
average increase of production per acre in 20 years of 30 per cent. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGlilGULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 5 

They also disclose a lessened cost of production per acre, and this 
splendid accomplishment is attributed to the information and instruc- 
tion carried to the farmers by agricultural extension work. 

The testimony before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and 
Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture furnishes convinc- 
ing proof of the great benefits which have been accomplished by the 
limited work upon this line already carried on by the agencies cre- 
ated principally through congressional action. 

Dr. Russell, dean of the college of agriculture of the University of 
Wisconsin, pointed out its value in the improvement of cattle and 
dairying in Wisconsin. Among other things, Dr. Russell said: 

^The extension work is desitjnated generally to take that work right to the man on 
the field, and it seems to me the advantageous feature of this bill is that it leaves it 
to the discretion of the agricultural college to organize this work along those lines 
that are going to be most effective for the community concerned. 

He also pointed out a development of corn seed which in a portion 
of Wisconsin had enabled an increase of production per acre of over 
50 bushels. He dwelt upon the necessity for soil diagnosis, and how 
at one point more phosphate was needed and at another more nitro- 
gen and another more potash, and how for various crops portions 
of those necessary plant foods could be supjilied and at other places 
other ingredients could be locally found, and he urged the importance 
of carrying accurate information upon this subject to the farmer at 
home, and he showed the work he was doing endeavoring to give 
such information to the farmers of Wisconsin. 

Dr. Russell relates this incident, told him by Dr. Hopkins, of 
Illinois : 

Dr. Hopkins had demonstrated in southern Illinois what could be done with a 
dollar and a half's worth of phosphate to soil that needed this plant food. The aver- 
age yield of corn in that locality was about 13 bushels. Dr. Hopkins demonstrated 
that witli a little phosphorus and brains the yield could be increased fourfold. An 
old man came up with tears in his eyes and said: "Dr. Hopkins, I want to thank you 
for what I have seen to-day; l)ut, God help me, if I only knew that 40 years ago." 
He said, "I have six sons in my family and have labored night and day to keep body 
and breeches together and to keep the family together, and what have I got on my 
farm? Twelve to 1-5 or 16 bushels of corn to an acre — that's all I can make. I would 
have liked to send my l)oys to college. I would have liked to give those children an 
education; but I could not raise enough crop on the piece of land that I owned, so 
I have toiled all my life and have earned barely enough to support my family. Now, 
if a man had only come to me when I was comparatively young and told me the things 
you have told me to-day — that one dollar and a half's worth of phosphate would have 
given me 50 l)ushels of corn like the crop which was raised right over the fence from 
where I am — I could have sent my children to the high school and to a university." 

Dr. Soule, of Georgia, discussed the subject along the same lines, 
and pointed out how corn and cotton production had been increased 
in various parts of the State nearly 100 per cent by the application 
of the knowledge develoj^ed in the State College of Agriculture and 
Experiment Station. He called attention to the different varieties 
of soil even in Georgia and the different character of plant foods con- 
tained in the different soils of the State. Among other things, he 
said: 

I have told you of the variations of our soil in Georgia. How can we direct this 
thing from a centralized position? It is impossil)le to do it. There is not a man not 
familiar with the agricultural conditions of California wlio would attempt to advise 
the farmers of that State. It is not possible to send out information and literature 
from Washington that will meet the needs of the farmers in Georgia, as well as in all 
the other States. We must conduct tViis as a localized proposition, studying and teach- 
ing through the agricultural colleges. 



6 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPAETMENTS. 

Dr. W. D. Gibbs, president of the New Hampsliire College of Agri- 
culture and Mechanic Arts, gave an illustration of the benefit of 
agricultural extension work of the kind that this bill contemplates 
through a young man who studied at the College of Agricultiu'e of 
New Hampshire. He said: 

This old orchard was full of San Jose scale, and was an unproductive orchard, pro- 
ducing mediocre fruit in small quantity. The father had made his living by selling 
milk 8 miles away. This young man went to work on the orchard and pruned it and 
sprayed it and cared for it in other ways, and to-day they have one of the best apple 
orchards in New England. Instead of producing 800 barrels of poor fruit a year it is 
producing about 1,500 barrels of good fruit a year. The result is that the town has 
become an apple-producing center. Now, those farmers might have read agricultural 
experiment station bulletins for a hundred years on how to develop an orchard and 
they never would have done it. They believed their eyes and changed their methods. 

We are tremendously interested in this thing. The salvation of New England, it 
seems to me, is dependent upon increased agricultural prosperity. Agricultural 
extension is the way to bring it about. You can talk to farmers at farmers' institutes 
and you can send them bulletins by the ton, but they do not change their practice. 
But when you go to the farm and "show" the man then he is your friend for life, and 
that, in my opinion, is the way to develop agriculture in New England or any other 
part of the United States. 

Dr. Thompson, president of the University of Ohio, presented a,, 
strong appeal for the bill and declared that it was necessary to 
''develop the work of the American farmers," and as a ''supple- 
mentary move that will reach the matured men and women, who, for 
one reason or another are not able to bring themselves to the school, 
and give them the full benefit of the appropriations already made to 
the colleges and experiment stations." 

Dr. Howard H. Gross, president of the National Soil Fertility 
League, of Chicago, among other things, said: 

1 believe this bill for agricultural extension, measured by its general benefits, is 
the most important constructive measure since the days of Abraham Lincoln. I 
believe that is the concensus of opinion of the gentlemen who have given it careful 
study. 

He pointed out that at a low estimate the proposed extension work 
is not only the way to an increase of average yield per acre of 20 per 
cent, but also made the following statement: 

The approximate area of farm lands is 900,000.000 acres. The present crop value is 
about $9,000,000,000. Twenty percent increase means $1,800,000,000, equal to $18 
per capita on 100,000,000 population. This sum equals one-half of all the money in 
circulation. Surely the figures are tremiendous. The maximum cost to the Federal 
Treasury under the bill before you will lie $:i,000,000 per year. The value of 20 per 
cent increase on one -year's crop will pay for the proposed demonstration work for 
600 years. 

He also said: 

There appeared before the committee representatives of agricultural associations ' 
representatives of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, students o* 
agricultural development, and leading bankers, all of whom urged the passage of this 
measure as one necessary for the improvement of the agriculture of the country, and 
they dwelt upon both the benefits which would go to the farmer and to the urban 
citizen as a consequence of the improved methods on the farm which this bill would 
bring about. 

At a recent meeting of the presidents of the colleges of agriculture 
and experiment stations, the following resolutions were passed: 

The Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, in 
session at Atlanta, Ga., November 14, 1912, most respectfully requests the United 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICQLTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 7 

States Senate to pass the agricultural extension bill, H. R. 22871, during the coming 
session of the Sixty-second Congress. 

For some years the institutions represented in this association have been urging 
the development of work in agricultural extension for the purpose of carrying to the 
farmer in his own community the successful experience of the experiment stations 
and the approved teachings of the colleges of agriculture. 

During the sessions of the Sixty-first Congress several bills looking to this end were 
introduced and hearings given to the representatives of the agricultural colleges, of 
the National Grange, of bankers' associations, and of others interested in the develop- 
ment of the Nation's agricultural resources. 

On January 16, 1912, the Hon. Hoke Smith introduced in the United States Senate 
and Hon. A.F. Lever introduced in the House of Representatives a bill to establish 
agricultural extension departments in connection with the agricultural colleges in 
the several States receiving the benefits of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862. 
The bill now known as H. R. 22871, embodying substantially the provisions of the two 
bills referred to above, has passed the House of Representatives and is now pending 
in the Senate. 

The provisions of this bill have been fully discussed in the hearings before the 
Committees on Agriculture in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. 
Its provisions are simple and clear. The bill seeks to bring to the practical farmer 
by correspondence, instruction, and demonstration the accumulated and approved 
experience and methods of the colleges and experiment stations during the past 50 
years. 

Fifty years ago the United States Congress passed the act providing for the land- 
grant colleges. Twenty-five year ago Congress passed the act providing for the experi- 
ment stations. Both these acts have been supplemented with legislation increasing 
the funds and the efficiency of both colleges and stations. It is now urged that on this 
anniversary year the agricultural extension bill be passed in order to enable these 
colleges to carry to the farmer who can not come to the college or station such demon- 
stration of the results obtained in these institutions as shall enable him to maintain 
and develop the agricultural resources under his direction. This movement we 
believe to be in accord with sound public policy lying at the basis of the economic 
policies looking toward increased production as an important factor in determining the 
comfort and welfare of the whole people. This bill naturally and logically completes 
the chain of agencies fostered by the Federal Government for the betterment of agri- 
culture. Hitherto we have maintained laboratories and field experiments at our 
colleges and stations, have put the results into bulletins, and have taught them in the 
classroom. It is now proposed to take these results to the local community, carry the 
school to the farmer, and make his own fields a laboratory in which we can demon- 
strate the value of science when applied to agriculture. 

The association would call the attention of the Senate to two facts: First, the uni- 
versal approval the country over of the wisdom of passing the land-grant act after an 
experience of 50 years; of the equally luiiversal approval of the coimtry of the act 
providing for the experiment stations after an experience of 25 years; and. 

Second, to the fact that the agricultural interests as represented by farmers, the 
colleges, the experiment stations, the agricultural press, and other interests as repre- 
sented in bankers' associations and philanthropic agencies of various names are all 
united in a desire to see the bill for agricultural extension become a law. 

The Association of Agricultural Colleges, believing that these extension depart- 
ments should be established without delay, and believing that this naeasure should 
receive favorable consideration upon its own merits without complication with other 
legislation, does most respectfully urge upon the Senate of the United States the 
importance of passing the bill for the establishing of agricultural extension depart- 
ments in the agricultural colleges of the several States at the earliest possible date, to 
the end that the legislatures of the different States, many of which meet in January, 
may have oppoitunity to accept the provisions of the bill and to put the departments 
into operation durmg the coming year. 

Attention is respectfully called to the hearings before the Committee on Agriculture 
and Forestry in the United States Senate, Sixty-second Congress, second session (S. 
4563), March 1, 1912, for a more complete statement of the merits of the bill and of the 
reasons for its enactment into law. 

Passed by the Association of Ameiican Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations, Atlanta, Ga., November 14, 1912. 

WiNTHROP E. Stone, President. 

Attest: 

Joseph L. Hills, Secretary. 



8 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTUKAL EXTENSION DEPARl'IklENTS. 

The International Dry Farming Congress at Colorado Springs 
indorsed the bill by unanimous vote. 

The New England Conference of Rural Progress, comprising 70 
organizations, at a meeting in Boston, said: 

Of all the bills now before Congress, we believe the Lever bill to be the most practical 
form of legislation yet proposed. 

The Tri-State Grain Growers' convention, comprising Minnesota 
and the two Dakotas, passed resolutions emphatically indorsing the 
bill. 

The executive officers of the State Grange, the State Federation of 
Farmers' Clubs, and State Horticulture Society, of Michigan, unani- 
mously indorsed the bill. 

The Farmers' Union indorsed the bill. 

Th3 Third Wisconsm Country Life Conference, at Madison, passed 
a resolution urging the Members of Congress to pass the agricultural 
extension bill. 

Secretary of Agriculture Hon, James Wilson, m a memorandum 
prepared for the President of the United States, after full discussion 
of tne provisions of the bill, says : 

From time to time during the past three or four years bills have been introduced in 
Congress having for their object agricultural extension work, and upon these bills 
there has been considerable discussion. Public sentiment has gradually been crys- 
tallized on the matter until now we have before us House bill 18160, known as the 
Lever bill — a concrete proposition in regard to carrying the results of agricultural 
knowledge directly to the man on the land. Unquestionably such a plan, if properly 
carried out, would result in great good and would do much toward making useful and 
valuable the rapidly growing store of knowledge developed along agricultural lines. 

(Secretary Wilson designated House bill 18160 as the bill to which 
he was referrbig. The present bill, as heretofore explained, is the 
substitute for that bUl.) 

The following are abstracts of indorsements of the bill as it was 
first introduced into the Senate, the present bill being practically the 
same measure, with only the changes to which we have heretofore 
called attention: 

ALABAMA. 

President State Agricultural and Mechanical College says it is "a splendid piece 
of prospective legislation. " 

President Alabama Polytechnic Institute: "We regard this work as one of the 
greatest possible good that can be rendered by the Government to our great farming 
interests. * * * This sort of constructive work done with the Government money 
seems to me is of even more value than what might be called the destructive work of 
the appropriations for guns and battleships." 

ARIZONA. 

President University of Arizona: "The newer sections of the country are in great 
need of the national help that such a bill as yours contemplates. * * * I am glad 
the whole subject is engaging the attention of Congress * * *." 

ARKANSAS. 

President University of Arkansas: "I heartily approve of the bill and hope that it 
will be passed." 

Dean and director College of Agriculture: "Senate bill 4563 * * * is a piece of 
proposed legislation which, to my mind, is of great importance." 

CALrFORNIA. 

President University of California: "There is no way in which we can do real good 
for the masses of our people better than through agricultural extension work. * * * 
There can be no question about our favoring the bill; we know what it means." 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS, y 

CONNECTICUT. 

President Connecticut Agricultural College: "My personal opinion is that carrying 
of the latest scientific knowledge to the working farmer is one of the most important 
duties of the land-grant colleges. I sincerely hope that this bill will have favorable 
consideration by the present session of Congress." 

DELAWARE. 

^President Delaware College: "I am very much pleased, indeed, to hear that the 
bill * * * ]jag been read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
and Forestry. * * * Boys and girls of the common-school and high-school ages 
usually decide into what sphere of life they wish to enter. Formerly the dearth of 
agricultural education in that formative period rendered it impossible for the boy or 
girl to realize the importance of such instruction and consequently the country boy 
usually found a home in the city. I believe that this condition of affairs will be 
remedied by the operation of such a bill as you have proposed." 

FLORIDA. 

President University of Florida: "I sincerely hope that you will be successful in 
passing this measure. Our State at the present time is giving $7,500 annually for 
farmers' institutes and agricultural extension work. With double this amount we 
believe that the efficiency of the agricultural extension work would be quadrupled, 
as paradoxical as this may seem." 

GEORGIA, 

Chancellor University of Georgia: "It is the best bill for extension work that I 
have ever seen. It is the only bill for extension work which I have been able to read 
and understand. If there is any way in which I can aid in its passage I will be glad 
to know it." 

President State College of Agriculture: "We are naturally very much gratified to 
see the progress you are making with your measure in the Senate, and hope Mr. Lever 
will have equal success in the House." 

HAWAII. 

President College of Hawaii: "I have read the bill over carefully and heartily 
commend your efforts to secure this benefit for the large and important class of our 
people who are in need of its provisions. This is constructive legislation of the truest 
type. Efficiency and contentment in agriculture are at the foundation of the Nation's 
welfare. * * * j believe that extension teaching is most important of all our 
methods for the propagation of knowledge. * * * There is sufficient data to show 
that the endowment for the agricultural colleges and experiment stations and the 
appropriations for the Department of Agriculture must be considered as among the 
best investments that the Nation has ever made." 

IDAHO. 

President University of Idaho: "Even with the best preparation we can make, 
and the most generous support from the Government in all of its divisions, we expect 
to be swamped by applications for assistance through extension instruction. Prac- 
tically every community in the State is clamoring for extension work, and only a 
small percentage of the requests can be complied with. With reasonable support, 
however, from the United States and the State, we may expect that practically the 
whole agricultural population of Idaho will go to school for a portion of each year." 

ILLINOIS. 

Vice president University of Illinois: "The bill (S. 4563) introduced by you into 
the Senate of the United States is one of very great importance to the people of our 
country, and if passed is destined to work wonderfully great results. It is well known 
to everybody who has thought on the matter that agriculture with us is in a state of 
low development. * * * The people of the rural districts are not sharing ade- 
quately in the general prosperity of the country, and the latter can not be maintained 
without a forward movement among these rural people. Everywhere of late is heard 
the cry, 'Back to the farm.' But until the farm becomes desirable as a source of 



10 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEP^TMENTS. 

living and of community life no adequate result can be reached. This bill will serve 
in a practical way to make this movement really sucessful. * * * The University 
of Illinois is doing a great deal of this work now from State appropriations. It can do 
much more with the aid that the bill is destined to give." 

Editor Orange Judd Farmer, Chicago: "The demonstration idea has not been given 
great attention at the North. Its wonderful success South ought to be sufficient 
proof that it would be just as satisfactory at the North. We are heartily in favor of 
this kind of work. I am very anxious to do what I can to help this bill along." 



President Purdue University: "I am in favor of this kind of legislation rather than 
some of the other measures which are now before Congress. * * * I find the 
demands upon us for attention and for work which we would like to do far in excess 
of our resources. This kind of work is the thing now most needed in our agricul- 
tural colleges and I hope the measure will pass." 



President State Agricultural College: "We shall be very glad to do anything neces- 
sary to be done to indicate the interest of the farming classes in this matter and to 
assure the Members of Congress that they will appreciate the enactment of a law along 
the line of this bill." 

KENTUCKY. 

Editor Home and Farm, Louisville: "The policy will result in great good. * * * 
Only through a better agricultural educktion will the farmers be able to diversify their 
crops intelligently, care for their soils, and increase their profits." 



President University of Maine: "I have gone over Senate bill 4563 with very great 
interest. I see nothing whatever to criticize or change in the bill. If this bill 
becomes a law it will enable the land-grant colleges to render unusual service to the 
people of this country. If I can be of any service in bringing about the favorable con- 
sideration of this bill it will be a pleasure." 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

President Massachusetts Agricultural College : " I am more than glad to give a hearty 
indorsement to the bUl. * * * I think that this is one of the most important educa- 
tional measures ever introduced into Congress. I believe the time is ripe for a great 
Federal movement in popular education in agriculture and rural affairs. The States 
are doing something, but we need the stimulus, direction, and practical assistance of 
the National Government. * * * You will find the agricultural educators and 
farmers of America back of you in this effort to inaugurate a great movement. I know 
of nothing that the present Congress could do that would be more popular. I hope 
the bill may be passed at this session." 

MICHIGAN. 

President Michigan Agricultural College: "This bill has my hearty indorsement 
and I hope may pass. I shall do all I can to that end." 

MINNESOTA. 

Indorsements received from the officers of the State College of Agriculture and 
Experiment Stations of Minnesota. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

President Agricultural and Mechanical College: "I heartily indorse your bill. 
While I was president of the American Association of Institute Workers I delivered 
an address urging that such a bill be passed by the National Congress. Extension 
workisby far themostimportant work of the land-grant colleges at this time. * * * 
We already have enough information to transform our agriculture if we could get the 
people to incorporate it in their practices." 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 11 



President Montana State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: 'I am heartily 
in favor of this movement, and I believe that the provisions of this bill will meet the 
approval of all the interests concerned. The amount required to carry out this bill 
is msignificant, and yet it will stimulate the States to expend several times this 
amount." 

NEBRASKA. 

Chancellor University of Nebraska: "The University of Nebraska has already 
organized a department of agricultural extension. For lack of funds, however, our 
work is conducted mainly along the line of farmers' institutes. I have read the bill, 
and most cordially indorse it in every particular." 

NEW JERSEY. 

President Rutgers College: "I am glad to express to you my emphatic indorse- 
ment of this measure and my earnest hope that it will be passed. The State Agricul- 
tural College of New Jersey, Rutgers College, is surely in position to do extension, 
work throughout the State, and the work ought to be done." 



President College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts: "I heartily approve your 
bill arfti hope that it will be adopted." 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

President New Hampshii'e College of Agricultm'e and the Mechanic Arts: 'My 
personal belief is that if this bill is passed by Congress it will be one of the wisest 
pieces of legislation since the land-grant act of 1862. * * * To my mind agri- 
cultural extension work is of the utmost importance at the present time. Our experi- 
ment stations have accumulated a large mass of facts and our colleges have done a 
wonderful work in accumulating and assimilating agricultiual information of all kinds^ 
and the most important thing we can do now is to extend this information to the 
farmers. This can be done only by demonstration and by other practical thorough- 
going methods. I hope that your bill will receive the hearty support of every Member 
of Congress. " 

NEW MEXICO. 

President New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: "I have read the 
bill with great care, and will say that I belieAe it to be the best of the several bills 
now pending before Congress which have this object in view. 'Whatever may be the 
merits of the various propositions to have the Federal GoA'ernment support agricul- 
tural high schools, trade schools, district agricultural schools, and branch experiment 
stations, it seems clear that none of these ought to be tied up with the agricultural 
extension proposition, of which almost everybody is in favor. The Association of 
Agricultiiral Colleges at its recent meeting took the position that the support of agri- 
cultural extension work was the most important advance movement to be accom- 
plished by legislation at this time. " 

NEW YORK. 

President Cornell University: "It is a species of instruction which appeals to the- 
public more than college instruction or investigation, for which provision has been 
made in previous acts of Congress. " 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

President College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: "There is no work which the 
Nation can do now which would tell more for material progress than the extension 
work which would be so healthfully aided by your bill. If there is anything that our 
farmers need more than another it is for some one to carry directly to them the vast 
amount of scientific knowledge about crops and methods which has been made avail- 
able in the past few years. The passage of this bill would give an opportunity to do 
this thing, and I am sure no step could count more for progress than would be taken 
by such action on the part of our Congi'ess. " 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

President North Dakota Agricultural College: "A resolution was adopted at 
the Tri-State Grain Growers' Convention indorsing the passage of your bill, and, 
as president of the convention. T sent copies of the resolution to the memliers of 
both houses in Minnesota and the two Dakotas. I trust the bill will find favor with 
both Congressmen and Senators and become a law." 



12 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 



OHIO. 



Dr. Thompson, of the University of Ohio, appeared in person before the committee, 
advocating the bill. 



OKLAHOMA. 



President Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College: "I am in hearty 
sympathy with the purpose of your bill." 



President Oregon Agricultural College: "I am in hearty accord with all the 
provisions of this bill. I have already written Members of the Oregon delegation, 
urging that they give it their support. " The Oregon State Agricultural College has a 
regularly organized department or division for extension work in agriculture and 
home economics. One great need is for money with which to carry on this work. 
I sincerely trust that your bill may be passed by the present Congress." 

PENNSYLVAXIA. 

President Penn-sylvania State College: "Let me thank you for copy of Senate 
bill 4563. * * * Wishing the bill success and thanking you for your efforts for the 
benefit of public education. I am, * * *." 

Secretary State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania: "1 take this oppor- 
tunity to especially commend Senate bill 456S, introduced by you. and to assure 
you of the interest and support of this association. This is a matter of immediate 
need and far-reaching advantage to the agricultural interests of the country. I 
sincerely hope that it may become a law." 

RHODE ISLAND. 

President Rhode Island State College: "I heartily approve of your bill and have 
BO criticisms to make. This college has been prosecuting extension work for seven 
or eight years, laboring under the difficulty of lack of funds. * * * I am anxious 
to do whatever is possible to aid in the passage of this measure, and have written our 
Senators accordingly. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

President Clemson Agricultural College: "I have read this bill with a great deal 
of interest. * * * i consider it one of the most important pieces of constructive 
legislation proposed since the Hatch Act, establishing the agricultural experiment 
stations. There is no question but that the great need to-day is the dissemination 
of agricultural information among our rural people. We would welcome the passage 
•of such a bill as yours, and assure you that we would try to make its application in 
South Carolina of the greatest usefulness to our people." 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

President South Dakota State College: "The cause is one that has our hearty in- 
dorsement. I have not been negligent of Senate bill 4563. I believe that our dele- 
gation will support it." 

Principal, School of Agriculture: "I think our farming people * * * have 
almost no realization of the advantages that will come from legislation of this kind. 
* * * I feel positive that this work will greatly advance the agricultural interests 
of this great State of South Dakota." 

TENNESSEE. 

President University of Tennessee: "I am heartily in favor of the passage of this 
Act. I believe the work contemplated by it to be of the greatest importance. I will 
be glad to do anything in my power to influence its passage." 

TEXAS. 

President Agricultural and Mechanical College: "If this bill should become a law, 
I am sure that it will mark a new era in agricultural education among the masses in 
America. * * * i can think of no ex])enditure of money by the Government 
that would be more remunerative to the Nation and which would redound to the 
amelioration of so large a number of our most deserving fellow citizens." 

Editor Farm and Ranch: "This is a very important measure and one that should 
be passed without opposition." 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 13 



President Agricultural College of Utah: "Utah established an agricultural exten- 
sion department several years ago. * * * We are unable, however, with the 
means at our disposal, to meet the demands made upon us. * * * You are at 
perfect liberty to quote the officials of the Utah Agricultural College as being in very 
hearty sympathy with any measure for the promotion of our industrial life through 
the development_of extension work among the farmers and farmers' wives throughout 
the country. It is possibly the most important work now lying before the agricul- 
tural colleges, since it permits the proper distribution among those who need it of the 
splendid mass of facts gathered by the agricultural experiment stations." 



President Virginia Polytechnic Institute: "This is by far the best proposition 
which has yet come forward. * * * The bill seems carefully drawn, and I can 
most heartily indorse it." 

WASHINGTON. 

Vice president State College of Washington: "I have been waiting a little to find 
what was recommended by the meeting of the agricultural college representatives and 
find that they are all of them backing this particular bill. There is certainly a large 
demand for more extension work in the country. We need to rationalize our educa- 
tion and make it more helpful to the young men and young women who do not expect 
to enter professional life. I will write to our Representatives and Senators and ask 
for their hearty cooperation in the jDassage of Senate bill 4563." 

WEST VIRGINIA. 

President West Virginia University: "I thank you very much for a copy of the bill 
sent, and hasten to express my wish that it may become a law. * * * This ia 
one of the greatest works for the benefit of the entire country to which public money 
can be devoted. It is through the extension work, and through it alone, as far as I 
can see, that the people of most of our rural communities can be thoroughly awakened 
to the need and value of agricultural education. The proposed bill seems to me to 
be satisfactory in every detail, and I hope that you will be successful in securing its 
passage." 

Dean and director College of Agriculture, West Virginia University: "I am sending 
out a letter to some of our leading people urging the support of your bill, and would 
like to send a copy of the bill with these letters. * * * "We shall give this measure 
every support possible." 

WISCONSIN. 

Dean University of Wisconsin: "Senate bill 5463 * * * is, to my mind, 
the most suggestive measure that is under consideration in Congress for the advance- 
ment of the agricultural welfare of the Nation. What is needed most imperatively 
is the carrying of present agricultural knowledge to the man on the farm. * * * 
The agricultural extension service is the only way in which this can be most effec- 
tively accomplished, and your bill most satisfactorily fulfills this need. * * * 
We in Wisconsin will do all that we can to aid in the passage of this measure." 

Secretary Wisconsin Country Life Conference Association: " The following resolu- 
tion was unanimously adopted by the conference association, representing all the 
varied interests of country life and rural progress in all parts of Wisconsin: 

'"Resolved, That it is the sentiment of this conference association that we urge our 
Representatives in Congress to support the bill "To establish agi-icultural extension 
departments in connection with the agricultural colleges in the several States, etc." 
House bill 18160, Senate bill 4563.' 

"I take pleasure in acquainting you with representative Wisconsin sentiment on 
this measure." 

Secretary Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders' Association: "Inclosed herewith please 
find copy of resolution passed unanimously by the Wisconsin Live Stock Breeders' 
Association, an organization representing all of Wisconsin's best live-stock breeders: 

" 'Madison, Wis., February 8, 1912. 
" 'Resolved, That the Wisconsin Live 'Stock Breeders' Association assembled in 
annual convention heartily indorses the principle of Governineut aid to agricultural 
college extension as embodied in the Lever bill (House bill ISKiO), and that we 
authorize the secretary of this association to send a copy of these resolutions to the 
chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Agriculture and to Members of the 
Wisconsin delegation in Congress.' " 



14 ESTABLISHMENT OF AGEICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPAETMENTS, 

Secretary National Association of State Universities: ''I am deeply interested in 
your Senate bill 4563. The bill ought to pass, and I should be glad to cooperate 
with you in any way within my power to bring about the desired result." 

Mr. W. O. Thompson, member executive committee Association of American Agri- 
cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations and president Ohio State University: 
"As chairman of the executive committee of the Association of American Agricultural 
Colleges and Experiment Stations I should be very much pleased to be heard before 
the committees of both the House and Senate. As a little evidence of our interest, 
I may say that we started agricultural extension four years before the legislature 
authorized it, and had as many as 8,000 boys on the farms doing experimental work. 
* * * The Agricultural College Association expressed itself very decidedly last 
November in favor of agricultural extension." 

Secretary New England Conference on Rural Progress: "At a meeting of the New 
England Conference on Riu-al Progress, March 8, at the offices of the State board of 
agriculture, statehouse, Boston, the following resolutions were unanimously voted: 

'"Recognizing the latent possibilities of the New England States for agricultural 
development, especially along certain high-class, specialized lines, and realizing that 
this development can be most speedily and effectively brought about through well- 
organized extension teaching in agriculture, the New England Conference on Rural 
Progress — representing more than 70 organizations interested in rural life — to-day 
assembled in convention in the city of Boston, would respectfully urge upon Congress 
the necessity and advisability of passing legislation granting Federal funds for the 
development of extension teaching in agriculture. Of the bills now before Congress 
we believe Senate bill 4563 and House bill 18160 to be the wisest and most practical 
forms of legislation yet proposed.' 

"The delegates represent the agricultural colleges, the experiment stations, the 
State granges, and various special agricultural, live stock, dairying, and other organiza- 
tions and agencies of New England." 

State superintendent of farmers' institutes, Lansing, Mich.: "At the Michigan 
State Round-up Farmers' Institute, held at this place on February 27 to March 1, at 
which representative farmers from more than 50 of the counties of the State were 
present, the following resolution was adopted: 

"'Whereas Representative A. F. Lever, of the seventh district of South Carolina, 
has introduced a bill to establish agriculture extension departments in connection 
with agricultural colleges in the several States receiving the benefits of an act approved 
July 2, 1862, and acffe supplementary thereto, and referred to the Committee on 
Agriculture: Therefore 

'^'Resolved, That the members of the Seventeenth Annual Farmers' Institute 
Round-up, in session at the Michigan Agricultural College, ask and urge its Senators 
and Members of Congress to favor the passage of this bill.' 

"I would say that, in addition to the above delegates, the executive officers of the 
State Grange, State Federation of Farmers' Clubs, State Horticultural Society, and 
nearly 1,000 farmers were present and voted unanimously for the resolution." 

Editor Agricultural Epitomist, Spencer, Ind.: "I congratulate you on so far- 
reaching a measure as Senate bill 4563 is intended to be. If Congress does nothing 
else than pass this bill, it will justify the wisdom of the forefathers." 

Union City, Ga., February 26, 1912, 
Dr, A. M. SouLE 

{Care Hon. Hoke Smith), Washington, D. C: 
Resolutions adopted by Georgia Farmers' Union that the bills now pending in 
Congress which propose to appropriate a sum of money to each State for agricultural 
education, providing the State will appropriate a similar amount, known as House 
bill 18160 and Senate bill 4563, be heartily indorsed and supported. 

J. F. McDaniel, Secretary- Treasurer. 



The committee recommends the passage of the bill as it came from 
the House, with only the following amendment: 

On page 5, line 14, strike out the words "duly appointed by the 
governing boards of said colleges," and insert "of the State, duly 
authorized by the laws of the State." 

o 



